FIG. 1 shows a connector having angled contact terminals. It comprises an elongate body 10 designed to be fixed on an edge of the printed card. The body 10 has contact terminals passing through it, which terminals are constituted by electrical conductors represented in the figure by their free ends 12a for insertion in the plated-through holes of the card. As can be seen, the contact terminals are angled, i.e. each of them includes a first portion 14 which is substantially perpendicular to the face of the body 10 (axis OX) and a right-angled portion 16 substantially parallel to the body 10 of the connector (axis OZ).
As can be seen, the various contact terminals 12 are disposed in planes perpendicular to the length of the connector body 10.
FIGS. 2a to 2c show various possible configurations of plated-through holes formed in a printed circuit card and given an overall reference 20.
In FIG. 2a, the plated-through holes 22 are in a staggered configuration. They are distributed in staggered rows parallel to the Y direction and in columns parallel to the X direction. The pitch between two consecutive plated-through holes is equal to p in the Y direction and it is equal to q in the X direction.
FIG. 2b shows a square disposition of plated-through holes 24, and FIG. 2c shows a rectangular disposition of plated-through holes 26.
As can be seen, in all configurations the plated-through holes 22, 24, or 26 are disposed overall along rows Y and columns X. The ends 12a of the contact terminals of the connector must naturally reproduce the same geometrical configuration as the plated-through holes 22, 24, or 26.
It will easily be understood that when the plated-through hole pitches q and p and thus the pitches of the ends of the contact terminals 12a are small, it is difficult or even impossible to insert the contact terminals directly into the plated-through holes because of the relative flexibility of the ends and because of tolerances in their relative positioning.
To solve that problem, French patent No. 2 605 175 in the name of the Assignee already describes tooling enabling the ends of the contact terminals to be guided so as to facilitate insertion thereof in the plated-through holes.
The tooling described in that patent is very well adapted to components or connectors having straight terminals, i.e. typically connectors to be mounted on a mother board which, in addition, generally has no other components.
Unfortunately, the tooling is not well adapted to components or connectors having angled terminals as shown in FIG. 1, i.e. typically connectors for mounting on daughter cards which are generally already fitted with various electronic components when it comes to mounting the connector on the card.